Local authorities organised New Year Eve's parties in main squares in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek, Dubrovnik and other towns in Croatia.
The largest party in the open featuring national pop stars was organised in Split where about 50,000 revellers gathered. With the start of the new year, Split officially began the celebration of 1700th anniversary of the building of the Diocletian Palace which is treated by historians as the beginning of the city's history.
Some 20,000 Zagreb citizens gathered overnight in Ban Jelacic Square for New Year's festivities.
Several war veterans' associations organised a rally in front of the Wall of Pain in Zagreb and exactly at midnight the gathered observed a minute of silence in memory of to victims of the Homeland Defence War.
Catholic dignitaries, including Zagreb Archbishop Cardinal Josip Bozanic and auxiliary bishops, said a Thanksgiving Mass on New Year's Eve in the Cathedral at which they urged the faithful to pray for the victims of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia.
The National Information Centre reported that that there were no incidents during New year parties.